Caevita

I guess I should clarify that Shardplate cannot flex. I forgot that Shardblades seem to have no problem with it. Which... is weird. Shards are weird. The fact that Plates and Blades do not share physical properties is weird. Anyway, thank you for the correction!

This is actually really making me wonder though, because Shards are completely rigid. I'm pretty sure that that makes them really bad at some things, which is kinda funny for what's supposed to be the ultimate material. A Shardbat, for example, would actually just be the biggest letdown, since a lot of the force you can hit a baseball with comes from the bat's ability to deform, then quickly snap back to its original shape.

I was referring to one of the diagram excerpts in the WoR epigraphs: "Q: For what essential must we strive? A: The essential of preservation, to shelter a seed of humanity through the coming storm. Q: What cost must we bear? A: The cost is irrelevant. Mankind must survive. Our burden is that of the species, and all other considerations are but dust by comparison."

It's a fun concept. At the very least, it's going to lead to some entertaining headcanons where the fate of the planet is decided by a couple of people drawing straws. More seriously, I'm not sure that Honor's champion is something that can just be "appointed." It seems likely that the champion needs to have a strong Connection to Honor (not that it isn't possible for someone like that to exist in Kharbranth, but we haven't met them. Taravangian is better Connected to Preservation, if I remember correctly).

There's a lot I don't get about the Diagram, too. With that said, I think I can answer at least one or two of these... First point: Yeah, the Diagram was made by a complete sociopath. There's not much else I can say here, really. Second point: Sorry, but we actually know from the epigraphs that Taravangian was aiming for "the essential of Preservation." He couldn't think up a future where Odium was defeated, so he fell back on making sure humanity as a whole didn't go extinct. If that decision frustrates you, good. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to. Third point: I wonder the same thing. The nightwatcher definitely seems like the type to have an angle here; I'd love to see a moment when Taravangian realizes that his empathy was more important. We'll see, though, trying to guess at the future of a Branderson novel can be trickier than interpreting the Diagram. Fourth point: ...yeah, I got nothing. Odium specifically says that Taravangian wrote that without any ability to see the future, too. In a theoretical sense, there's nothing wrong with the idea that enough intelligence could deduce things like that. We talk about "randomness," but that's just an illusion. Every natural process is just a matter of cause and effect. A thorough enough understanding of the system you're studying lets you travel up and down that cause and effect chain at will. However, it's also established that Taravangian doesn't understand people's motivations well when he's intelligent, because of his lack of empathy. It seems like that would be a huge block on his ability to make these predictions or inferences, but that's just me.

This is true. However, it seems like Odium has some amount of control over how and where it does the most damage. If he wanted to destroy Shinovar, the Everstorm could probably get it done, I think.

Well, not necessarily. The contours of Niagara Falls have changed dramatically in just the past century (it didn't always look like a horseshoe), and an argument could be made that the Everstorm will actually cause changes faster than Niagara has. That's not continent-sized change in one lifetime or anything, but I don't think we're talking millions of years either.

I love trying theories like this out. With that said, bear in mind that one of her truths which advanced her bond with Pattern was that she had killed her father. It is unlikely that Pattern would have let her get away with that if Lin Davar had not been her real father. So now, we have to work in that she was, what? The product of an affair between Lin and another woman who we quite possibly haven't met yet? Seems untenable.

Ah, congratulations. Yes, the cytonic hyperdrive does seem to be the FTL engine. The only question now is if Doomslug is capable of operating it, or if Branderson is just throwing us another red herring. On a side note, who's your favorite non-M-Bot side character?

Gotcha. I will remind you that you are currently on the spoiler board, though I'm trying my best not to give you any more than my original post might have had.

Yes, I think that's confirmed... Have you finished the book?

Defending Elysium spoilers ahead.

I'd 100% just go by Killjoy. It's, uh, it's actually the name that me and my sisters came up with when we were picking "agent" names. Which we still call each other by on occasion. The others are Agent C (agency) and Agent Sunshine. I have a strange family, and I fit right in.

[Insert obligatory You Say Run joke here] Are we including the second series here? If so,

Bear in mind, when Kell interacted with insane (broken) people in secret history, they could kind of hear him, but not see him. And Vin did, on some level, hear what he said. Brandon put in several instances where Vin's thoughts in HoA echo what Kell was saying to her according to SH. Most notably, I suppose, is when he warned her against visiting Hoid (Drifter), but his monologue as she takes Preservation for herself is practically word for word what the narration in HoA says as well.

I can already tell this is one of those theories that I come up with in the middle of the night, post on the shard, then wake up the next morning and wonder what I was thinking. However. I was thinking about the screams that Dalinar and Szeth hear, the screams-- according to them, anyway-- of the people they have killed. And Evi's voice during Dalinar's confrontation with Odium suggests that Dalinar and Szeth are right about the origin of the screams. Which seems very odd to me. Their victims did not hold any meaningful amount of Investiture, which I believe is the requirement for cognitive shadow shenanigans everywhere except possibly Threnody. Then I got to thinking of the Fused, who I had assumed were also cognitive shadows of some description, able to stick around and inhabit body after body. However, I believe they are referred to (citation needed) as the "spirits of the slain." This could be a reference to the fact that they have by now died repeatedly, but it might also mean they were slain before they became psychopathic pseudo-spren. And then I started thinking about the Vorin belief that there is a war going on to take back the Tranquiline Halls. So naturally, my mind which, much like a particularly dim Taravangian, should not be trusted right now, has concluded that the Vorin belief of being locked out of "heaven" originated with the inability of the dead to move on to the Beyond. At all. Or maybe only when they are the victims of violent deaths? Anyway, thoughts? Has this already been brought up? Am I about to get slapped down by like three different WoB's? Or will I have to wait until the next book comes out to be proven wrong?

To be fair, this wasn't some vague fear that they might destroy Roshar, based on past experience. Honor straight up told them they were going to. That's going to be terrifying no matter who you are, when your god announces you're going to destroy everything you love.

The interesting thing is that the speed of light isn't really defined as being light speed. My physics teacher refers to it as the "cosmic speed limit." So, changing the speed of light might have... other repercussions. Like, gravity has to "travel" between objects at 3*10^8 m/s to take effect and pull 2 objects together. So, if this magic-enabled universe also has magic which can summon objects, and you can lower the speed limit enough, summoned matter would be weightless for a moment before gravity actually asserted itself. Which is probably way too nerdy to put in a book but hey it's interesting anyway. There's posts on nerdy websites about how if you removed all the matter which makes up the sun, the earth would keep orbiting an empty piece of space for 8 or 9 minutes. Which is just so mind-bendingly bizarre. Anyway. This has been such a tangent haha.

I think a duralumin steelpush could do it as well, but as mistborn are kinda extinct, that seems... unlikely... to happen.

From what the Stormfather said at the end of book 2, it sounds like he isn't as vulnerable to breaking completely. That said, I'm sure it would hurt him pretty severely, whatever that means for him.

There is a reason I said "by that name." Maybe I should have said, "in this series" or "on Roshar," but all I was trying to say was that I have no idea why she would assume Kaladin, specifically, was chasing her. From where, she doesn't say. I would assume Nalthis, though, hence my question. Why would she assume that?

You make an excellent point.

Yeah, and it really feels like he's started doing the listening bit well with Shallan recently as well. His ability to find her specifically- through Veil and Radiant- has been a really nice character development thing for the hopeless flirt of book one.

So Adolin is carrying an Edgedancer's Shardblade. Now, this is interesting because at a time when almost everyone ignores their deadblade, he takes the time to listen to his. It's as though that's one of the Edgedancer oaths or something. I'm not going anywhere with this I just think it's friggin' cool. And... maybe important later if we learn how to restore deadeyes?

Is it just me or do people who are "in the know" always assume Kaladin is a worldhopper too? I mean first we had Wit name-dropping Adonalsium to try to get a reaction out of Kaladin. Which was a little weird, but hey, it's Wit! Whatcha gonna do? And then Azure goes and does it too. ("Are you following me?") I've been trying to think it over, but I've got absolutely zero idea what was going on there. We definitely hadn't met Azure by that name before, and I couldn't find anyone else who fit her description. The only thing I can think of, then, is that she was accusing him of following her to Roshar. But why would she assume that? I'm quite certain Kaladin himself is native, and I haven't noticed anyone commenting on Kaladin's hair or skin color being abnormal for Alethkar or anything else that would clue me in on his ancestors being out-of-towners either. Am I missing something blindingly obvious? Am I overthinking it? Or did I just board a train to RAFOville?